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Shoot Me While I'm Happy - Memories from the Tap Goddess of the Lower East Side Paperback – March 25, 2021

by Jane Goldberg (Author), Gregory Hines (Foreword)
4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
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This is not a history of tap dancing. It is one determined woman's highly personal account of falling in love with and living the tap life. One of the linchpins behind the Great Tap Revival of the 1970s and 80s, Jane Goldberg tracked down, studied with, and performed alongside some of the tap greats of the twentieth century. In the process, she came up with a genre all her own –"Rhythm & Schmooze." A romantic, Goldberg thought tap dancing would provide the most direct route to finding a partner like Fred Astaire. It did not, she discovered quickly. What she did discover, however, were her happy feet. Those feet, combined with great tenacity and endless curiosity, led her to ferret out a generation of show biz hoofers who had involuntarily gone underground. "Shoot Me While I'm Happy"– the title comes from an old vaudeville expression-captures a wealth of memories both wacky and touching.
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  1. Reading age
    1 year and up
  2. Print length
    324 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Dimensions
    7.01 x 0.81 x 10 inches
  5. Publication date
    March 25, 2021
  6. ISBN-10
    098015460X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0980154603
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Changing Times Tap Dancing Co, Inc (March 25, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 324 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 098015460X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0980154603
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 1 year and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.01 x 0.81 x 10 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.9 4.9 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Janet M.
5.0 out of 5 stars Really Good Read
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2023
Verified Purchase
I’m really enjoying this book. I recently started to learn tap and was interested in its origins and this book is giving me a really good historical background of it.
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Annette
5.0 out of 5 stars TAP HISTORY!
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2021
Verified Purchase
This was recommended by Heather Cornell (tap artist) on Facebook. So being a tap teacher, I wanted to add to my tap history knowledge. Easy to read and personal stories are great. Thank you, Jane Goldberg for writing your story and Heather Cornell for the recommendation.
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jazzrascal
5.0 out of 5 stars If you tap or love tap, GET THIS BOOK!
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2016
Jane Goldberg has written a fascinating, entertaining, and important book about tap dance. She covers so many events and people in the history of hoofing, but the book is about Jane, too…in fact the book IS Jane, and that’s what gives it its special flavor. After all, no one has done for the tap world what Jane has done—rounding up all those magnificent old hoofers who had pretty much hung up their shoes forever and bringing them back to tap life—besides being a hoofer herself. Tap is Jane’s life, and it’s a magical and colorful life.
I thoroughly enjoyed her disarming, charming honesty about her own flaws and quirks, and her stories about her friendships with many of the hoofers. She and Gregory Hines, who was a very close friend, had a combative but caring relationship, which is highlighted in an interview with Greg toward the end of the book. The two end up YELLING (in caps) at each other, interspersed with Jane’s giggles, and by the end we readers feel as if we really know (and love) both of them.
Jane’s relationships with the hoofers were not only about the tap, but were deeply personal. I was touched by one passage in the book where she was visiting tapper John Bubbles in a nursing home. Bubbles asks her: "Would you still love me, even if I weren’t ‘John Bubbles’?” “Of course,” I told him as I helped him into his bed. This was a side of show business I didn’t know at all—the need to be loved as a human being, not just as a celebrity, or as an idol for an adoring and aspiring hoofer." Jane knew all about idolizing tap dancers. When she met Sammy Davis J. she confessed (somewhat tongue-in-cheekily, which made me chuckle): “I wanted to connect with him in some deep way, and to have him come to know me in my true incarnation—The Tap Goddess of the Lower East Side.”
This book was especially dear to me, since I was also a part of the tap scene during the 80s. I played piano for Brenda Bufalino, and for many of the shows at her venue in NYC, Woodpecker. I knew quite a few of the hoofers personally that Jane mentions, and played for several of them, too. I had studied tap with Leon Collins, and later became his musical director. Then I played matchmaker and got him together with my friend Joan Hill (whom Jane refers to as Leon’s “main squeeze” in the book), who also played piano for him and went on tour with him.
Jane and I crossed paths in the tap world, and my impression of her was always that she was like no one else—a true original. This most definitely comes across in this wonderful book, which every tap dancer or anyone interested in or connected to tap in any way, should read. Well done, Jane!
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Ellen Goldin
5.0 out of 5 stars Tap On Into This Story!!
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2008
Jane Goldberg's book has been long awaited - and it totally lives up to anticipation.

This is not simply history of tap, but a window into the life and times of tappers, hoofers, and the lively life of artistic New York, seen through the eyes of a sensitive, perceptive, and ever alert Jane Goldberg. The book is a romp through time, loves, work and characters that she met, learned from, lived with, loved and knew. She doesn't miss a thing, and is generous to share it with her readers, lucky us!

This book is recommended to anyone with an interest in tap (of course), hoofers, nightlife, the lives of artists, and the almost lost world of bohemian New York. It is a story of persistence and adventure. And lots of tapping. Lots and lots of tapping and tappers. One big plus - tons and tons of pictures!!

I don't know how she met all these amazing dancers and other artists, I don't know how she got them to share their stories, but boy, am I glad she did - what a great read, wonderful dishy entertainment, and good solid history of the revitalization of this all american dance form.
6 people found this helpful
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Miss Minx
4.0 out of 5 stars And.....5,6,7,8
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2014
Verified Purchase
A bright and cheery memoir giving wonderful background info on some of the great hoofers of our time.
It gave me the inspiration to keep up the hobby that I started in my later years just before I retired; tap dancing is a joy to watch, and apart from the exercise benefits, it lifts the spirits and I find myself smiling every time I dance. Loved it.
One person found this helpful
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Mary Marcus, Los Angeles
5.0 out of 5 stars Tap tap tap!
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2014
Jane is funny, engaging and her world is fascinating. Anyone who loves dance, and especially tap
will find this memoir totally engaging. I couldn't put it down.
One person found this helpful
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Barbara Preis
5.0 out of 5 stars Shoot Me While I'm Happy by Jane Goldberg
Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2010
I loved reading this book! It is for everyone who taps, has tapped in the past, would like to tap, or is just interested in reading about tap dancers. Jane Goldberg writes about her love of tap dancing and her own experience in an interesting and humorous manner. There is a great deal of information, including photos, from dancers she has interviewed. She single-handedly found some of the older tappers who shared their stories. Great reading, and the DVD in the inside cover is an added bonus!
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

No
5.0 out of 5 stars Dancing
Reviewed in Canada on May 15, 2021
Verified Purchase
Great tap dancing story
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